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The iPhone 5 Debate

Yesterday, Apple released the iPhone 5. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m an iFan, no question. I was interested to see what would happen online after the event was over and the Internet “experts” got their chance to weigh in on the device.

Well—there has been a lot of bitching. Some of it is justified and some people are just bitching for the sake of having something to do with their days. While I will admit that there are positives and negatives to this phone, I don’t believe thedebate should be whether the phone is “good” or not. The debate should be what works better with your lifestyle—Apple, Nokia, Android, Windows or Rim? I say this because I believe they are all well made phones, but well made for whom?

The big complaints for years have been that Apple isn’t open source, the products are entirely proprietary, and that Apple has lost it’s mojo since the release of the 3Gs. If you don’t like this, quite simply put, don’t buy an iPhone.

I for one, enjoy Apple not being open source. I have enough editing, coding and sourcing in my life. Their products are proprietary, but that’s actually another item on the list of positives for me. It means that the product is tested, reliable and one of the most responsible companies in the world put their stamp of approval on it.

Now for the actual phone. There is no arguing that Apple DID NOT release a “revolution” here. If you like iPhones, this is a great device. If you’re tired of your other phone, the 5 is a great option. If you like the others however, this phone probably won’t make you switch over, and there in lies the problem. Apple has consistently created devices that have made people go ape shit and switch over. In this case, the Apple higher up’s are no Adam, and only in 2/3 of the cases, would Eve eat the apple.

To be completely honest, I wasn’t completely turned on by the 5 (pun intended). I could easily continue life with my 4s and iOS6, but it is a good, solid offering. Here’s the full features list:

✓4G LTE support for Bell, Virgin et al in Canada

✓Taller, 5 rows of apps

✓Made entirely of glass and aluminum

✓7.6 mm thin, 18% thinner than the 4S

✓1136 x 640, 19:6 aspect ratio

✓112g

✓44% more color saturation than the 4S display

✓HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA are also built in

✓802.11n 5 Ghz built in for wifi, up to 150 mbps of speed

✓Apple A6 chip. 2x faster CPU, and 22% smaller

✓Loading music app 2x faster

✓Fantastic graphics

✓Battery life: 8 hours with LTE, 10 hours on wifi

✓8 megapixel, 2364×2448 resolution

✓Pics capture 40% faster

✓Spatial noise reduction, smart filter on camera

✓Panorama built-in (displayed a 28MP picture)

✓Video has improved stabilization and detects up to 10 faces

✓Takes pics while recording video

✓Facetime over cellular

✓3 on-board mics. Important for Siri

✓Wideband audio for more natural sounding calls

✓Earpiece with noise cancellation

✓Lightning connector, reversible, 80% smaller

✓Old connector converter to “leave in your car”

✓iOS 6: 100 million points of interest are built into maps with Yelp

✓iOS 6: Apple is licensing Tom Tom’s turn-by-turn tech for GPS

✓iOS 6: Satellite mode with fly around

✓iOS 6: Improved mail with VIPs flagging

✓iOS 6: Photostream to become more Instagram-like with sharing, commenting and likes

Now that is a complete list, not the small comparison lists you’ll see on tech sites. The problem with those comparisons are that they are showing you only the features which all of the phones have for the most part. You don’t get a full look under the hood.

Right off the bat iPhone 5 loses out to most devices in terms of battery life (despite the improvement), the screen is a bit smaller than most, there’s no removable memory (as with all of the iPhones), and no NFC (not that most people even know what that means, and I refuse to have a nerdgasm all over you explaining it). I find most devices like the Samsung SIII too large and clunky anyway, but that’s my personal preference.

I’m a bit pissed about the new connector, but that’s the evolution of devices. As we expect more information and more features, we need to expect the way we transfer it to change as well. The adapter makes me satisfied but not happy.

Out of the box the camera is equal to competition, the device is lighter, more solid IMHO, the iOS is awesome, it’s faster, the new earbuds look really comfortable, and the app performance should be drastically improved based on what I’m reading. I think Siri had a major upgrade and if Rogers allows me to use FaceTime (reliably) over their network, that’s huge.

The last debate I will deal with is that there are a lot of improvements that no one asked for. In the end, I’d argue that no one asked for them because like the first iPhone, apps, iTunes, etc—no one knew they were needed. It’s why “they” run Apple, not us.

The problem for a lot of armchair bloggers and fanboys alike, is that they expected the 5 to crush the competition the way Apple has in the past. That’s really tough in this new game, and in my opinion, Apple had better find a way to do so, because that is what we’ve come to expect from the most profitable company in the world.

Did the 5 blow the roof off the mobile market? Nope. Is it a really nice offering for anyone that prefers Apple as a lifestyle choice? Yes. Hopefully the 5s will be the revolution that we have come to expect, or Apple is going to have a big problem with growth in the coming years.

iPHONE 5s PREDICTIONS:

The design will be identical, as it has to be due to 3rd party partnerships and accessories contracts.
You will be able to do 99% of what you do on your phone through Siri.
Apple will release one new, insane feature that will keep them in the game.

To continue my comparison to Adam and Eve and put this thing to bed—Adam gave Eve the apple and so continued evolution (I know, I know … it’s an ironic and maddening statement, well it’s my blog so suck it up). If Apple doesn’t have a revolutionary piece of fruit slash vegetable next time, evolution will slow and we might lose our opposable thumbs in the process.

UPDATE: I have now purchased the iPhone 5 and I don’t know why people are saying that it doesn’t have enough change. The phone is taller, slimmer, lighter, faster and in the world of specs, it is on par with everything else on the market. If you like Apple products, it’s a good’er for sure.